The Avocado Did It
by Phantasmaglorya
Summary: Someone keeps voting for Rantaro… But why?


"Okay, who's doing this?" Despite the emotionally draining class trial, Kaito couldn't help but ask once he saw the results of the fourth voting. "Which one of you insists on voting for Rantaro every single time?"

Indeed, the screen showed that apart from six votes for Gonta, there was also one vote for Kokichi and, inexplicably, one for Rantaro. As it had been since the very first trial. The students all looked around at each other, but no one spoke up.

Kaito scowled. "I thought someone had hit the wrong button on accident the first time. But this keeps happening, so it has to be on purpose. Whoever you are, I hate to break it to you, but Rantaro has been dead since the beginning of this mess. So, why are you voting for him? There's no way he could ever be the culprit!"

"Kaito, calm down," Shuichi said, "it doesn't really matter."

"Doesn't matter right _now_, you mean. But what if it had been a really close call and that one vote is the reason we all get executed?" he retorted. "I want to know who did it and why!"

Kokichi pouted. "Who cares about that? I wanna know which one of you meanies voted for _me_, even though I was clearly proven innocent!"

With that, he managed to direct Kaito's anger at himself. "Like hell you're innocent!"

While that discussion spiked up again, Shuichi noticed Kokichi glancing at him thoughtfully for a second, before the Supreme Leader smirked at him and looked away to taunt Kaito some more. Nervousness spread through him. Why had he given him that look right now? Well, it didn't matter. The trial was over, the votes were in. And another one of their friends had been sentenced to death.

* * *

"Didn't I _just_ say to make sure you vote for me? Who voted for Rantaro _again_?!" Kaito looked pissed as he let his gaze sweep over them. "This really isn't funny, guys."

His anger was kind of understandable. After all, the votes weren't uniform. That one vote for Rantaro almost seemed to taunt them.

"It doesn't even make sense!" he continued. "Whoever you are, I hope you know that voting for him won't help you accomplish anything. He. Is. Dead. He _can't_ be the culprit. Your choice will always be wrong!"

"Kaito..." Shuichi mumbled and his friend sighed in frustration.

"I just don't understand. What's the point of doing this? What are they trying to accomplish?"

"Maybe it's something personal," Shuichi said.

"Did Rantaro ever make any enemies? He got along with pretty much everyone, didn't he? Why would anyone have a grudge on him?"

"Who cares?" Maki cut in. "I don't know what kind of problem they had with him, but I do know that this behavior is stupid. If I ever find out who is doing this..."

"Hey..." Even Kaito seemed a bit uncomfortable with that proclamation. "Don't do anything you might regret."

"Are you quite done yet?" Monokuma asked boredly from his chair. "We still have an execution to get to, don't forget that."

"Yeah, yeah, fine. Let's just get this over with," Kaito said. He had been prepared to accept his punishment without complaint, but after seeing those votes, he really didn't feel like smiling anymore.

* * *

"This… is a joke," Maki said, staring at the display board.

"No way…" Himiko looked over at Keebo as Tsumugi cackled in the background. "Did the people really vote for Rantaro?"

"Are they making fun of us?!" Maki snarled in a sudden fury.

"Well… as hilarious as that would be, I'm afraid I need to tell you that the audience didn't cast a vote," Monokuma corrected her. In contrast to his words, he looked like he was about to burst from holding in his laughter.

Even Tsumugi was surprised by that. "They didn't? Then who was the one who voted?"

"Hmmm, I dunno. Why don't _you_ tell them, Shuichi?" The bear giggled with his paws covering his mouth.

The room was dead silent.

"Shuichi?" There was betrayal in Himiko's voice as she searched his eyes. He didn't look at her.

"Please tell me that he's lying." Maki's voice on the other hand was a strained monotone.

Shuichi seemed to shrink a little. Fidgeted.

"Shuichi, tell me that this is not true!" she shouted at him now. "_You_ were the one who convinced us not to vote! Why would you go and… and screw us over!?"

"I had to!" it burst out of him. As he looked up and saw her staring at him with a blank expression, he continued hurriedly, eyes darting from one student to the next. "I know I told you not to vote, and I didn't plan to either. But then the panel was opened and there he was, _smirking_ back at me and… I had to. I made that commitment and I had to stick to it. No matter what."

Maki took a deep breath to calm herself. "You betrayed us all. Because of a commitment. To vote for Rantaro. Even though he is the only one who died before the first trial even started. Did I understand that correctly?" she asked.

"Well… yes?"

She just stared at him in equal parts disgust and disbelief. Like he was the biggest cockroach she had ever seen and she still couldn't wrap her head around his sheer size.

"Why?" Himiko whispered, sounding extremely hurt. "Why would you do that? I thought we were friends…"

"Because he ruined everything!" he finally exclaimed. The truth had been cooking inside of him for a while now and it finally bubbled to the surface. "He is the reason Kaede died! Because if Rantaro hadn't investigated the library alone and set off our alarm, her plan would have never been set into motion. If he had just minded his own business, my waifu would still be alive!"

They stared at him in shock. No one had any words for that. Even the endless stream of audience comments seemed to slow down to a trickle.

Finally, Maki asked, "So, what's going to happen now?"

"Well…" Tsumugi seemed to be a bit at a loss for words too, but she quickly recovered. "Shuichi was the only one who voted, but if he was going to do that, he should have voted for the mastermind. It's not what I had in mind, but I think that counts as a win for despair. Which means that this is the first season where despair wins! I'm going to be the mastermind of the next killing game while you're all going to be punished!"

"Then, everything we just talked about… All of the resolve we had… It was all for nothing?!" Himiko asked, wide-eyed.

They all let that sink in for a moment. Until-

"Hey, you can't leave your podium!" Tsumugi exclaimed when Maki suddenly walked away from hers.

She stopped after only a few steps. "We've lost, haven't we? It's over. Thanks to Shuichi, we're all going to die."

"That's right!" the mastermind said with vigor, but there was still a confused undertone.

"In other words, it won't make a difference if I kill him now. Real talent or not, I think I can manage that much without being an actual assassin," she said, almost casually.

"Oh… well, I was looking forward to punishing you all. But I guess I'll allow it this once. We've never actually had a killing on camera," Tsumugi conceded.

Shuichi suddenly got very nervous and slowly backed away from his approaching friend. "Uhm… oof? I'm sorry, Maki, really! Look, can we just… talk about it?"

He found out a minute later that no, they could _not_ talk about it.

The season ended with all of the participants aside from the mastermind dead, which was a pretty sobering outcome. Team Danganronpa initially worried about the reception of an ending like this. However, their concern was completely unfounded. The audience didn't get their wish in the end, but the participants still remained in their hearts and their memes as the cast that was screwed over by that one idiot who couldn't let go of his commitment to his dead waifu. Well, that and the live murder right at the season's finale really was a show to behold, too.


End file.
